Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) A Novel

arly days contributed very little to this popularity. The most of them had encountered greater dangers, but they appreciated him b

numerous books that filled Ferragut's stateroom, many of them upon matters which appeared to them

He is a lawyer as

mportant share-holder of the company by which he was employed. His companions loved to

e Spanish flag, whatever might be its ho

hen ashore; the Andalusian captains, reflecting in their witty talk white Cadiz and its luminous wines; the Valencian captains who talk of politics on the bridge, imagining that they are going to become the navy of a future republic; and

begun their career on coasting vessels and could only with great difficulty adjust th

people…. Here they have Don Luis who is one of us.

"Don Luis." For some of them, Ferragut's only defect was his good luck. So far not a single boat of which he had had command had been lost. And every sailo

t Barcelona, merchants quick to understand and appraise a fortune, added up what the notary and his wife had left him and put with that what Labarta and the doctor had con

l in Catalan industry. Ulysses belonged to this country both on his mother's side and because he was born in the neighboring land of Valencia. There was great ne

she looked upon matrimony in the light of the old familiar traditions:-the woman absolute mistress of the interior of the home, but trusting

sins, it needed only a little dispute with one of the directors of the shipping firm to make him hand in his re

e world was made up of revolting rigidity and solidity. He felt almost nauseated at seeing all his possess

ives of those that were sleeping on the other floors above and below him had not been entrusted to his vigilance…. But in a few days he began to feel that

was seeking his counsel and many times had to interrupt his sleep. The house could go on without his making the rounds daily from the cellars to the roof, overseeing even the slightest spigot. The women who cleaned it in the mornings with their brooms were always obliging him to flee from his office. He was not permitted to make any commen

, made the situation bearable. Furthermore, his conscience was enjoying a certain satisfaction in being a land-father, taking much interest i

did the conversations with his cousins and nephews about profits and business deals, or about the defects of centralized tyranny. Acc

sing Lohengrin in Catalan. Enthusiasm made the most excitable roar, "the hymn … the hymn!" It was not possible to misunderstand. For them there was only one hymn in existence, and in a tr

. He could see himself detained on deck by groups of elegant maidens who would beg him for new dances in the coming week. His footsteps were surrounded with white flutte

or America confided to him their stupendous plans:-rivers turned from their courses, railroads built across the virgin forests, monstrous electric forces extracted from huge waterfalls varying in breadth, cities vomited from the dese

esire. Behind him, his praises were always being sounded. The matrons found him very distinguished. "It is plain to be seen that he is an exceptional person." Stewards and crew circulated exaggerated accounts of his riches and his studies. Some young girls sailing for Europe with imaginations seething with romance were very much aghast to learn th

so young as you has al

rice through mere prudence, yielding at others with the secrecy of a discreet sailor, now found himself with no other admirers than the mediocre tribe of the Blanes, with no other ha

room "without personality," a dwelling that was not characteristic of him in any way, arranged by the mai

without embarrassment through the spaces of his cabin furnishings. He had adapted himself to all incoming and outgoing angles just as the body of the mollusk adapts itself to the winding curves of its shells. The cabin seemed formed by the

and books untouched on the table, his clothes hanging from their hooks, his photographs fixed on the walls. The daily spectacle of seas and lands was always changing-the temperature, the course of the stars, and the people that one week were bundled up in wi

ater. When his ship was immovable in the ports, there always came in through his window the whirling noise of the cranes, the cries of the stevedores and the voices of those who were in the neighboring vessels. On the high sea the cool and murmuring silence of immensity used to fill his sleeping room. A wind of infinite purity that came perhap

amation of Persian flowers, Gothic columns, trunks of trees, with quadrupeds, reptiles and snails among the cement foliage. The paving wafted up to him through its drains the fetidity of sewe

een it long before. It was something inevitable and fatal that she must accept. The manufacturer, Blanes, stammered with astonishment. Return to his life of adventures, whe

rs. He could permit himself this luxury. It would be like an enormous yacht, ready to set forth according to his tastes and convenience, yet at the same time bringing hi

lacking transportation facilities, they paid the highest freight rates. Until now he had been a salaried

bought the Fingal, a mail packet of three thousand tons that ha

y of a Scotch captain who, in spite of his long illness, had never wished to give up command, dying aboa

him. On the wall-panels were painted the heroes of the Scotch Iliad,-the bard Ossian with his harp, Malvina with the round arms and waving golden tresses

s. Near the stove was a piano and upon its top an orderly collection of musical scores yellowed by time,-La Sonnambula, Lucia, Romances of Tosti, Neapolitan songs, breezy and graceful melodies that the old chords of the instrument sent forth with the fragile and crystalline tinkling of an

, and he remembered the Dotor with respect and admiration. He had known this new captain when he was a little fellow and used to go fishing with his uncle. In those days

hose living in that village of the Marina had become related through long centuries of isolated existence and common danger. The entire crew, from the first engineer

manager, of the author who branches out into publishing, of the engineer with a hobby for odd inventions who becomes the proprietor of a factory. His romantic love for the sea and its adve

s high and sharp prow disposed to confront the worst seas, the slenderness of the swift craft, its machinery, excessively powerful for a freight steamer,-all the conditions that had made it a mail packet for so many years. It consumed too much

d shout down the tube

oat was eating up all the profits. Its speed was insignificant compared with that of a transatlantic steamer, though absurd compared wit

to continue sailing without actual heavy loss. All the waters of the planet now saw the Mare Nostrum specializing in the

ed up with sand that had left only a few huts at the foot of mountains of ruins, and where columns of marble were still sticking up like trunks of lopped-off palm trees. He anchored near to the terrible breakers of the western coast of Africa under a sun which

tes with the English and Scandinavians who are the muleteers of the ocean. His tonnage and draught permitted him to sail up the great rivers of North A

r the Antilles. From the Pacific he sailed up the Guayas bordered with an equatorial vegetation, in search of cocoa from Guayaquil. His prow cut the infinite sheet of the Amazon,-dislodging gigantic tree-trunks dragged d

rcely anything left for the owner. Each time the freight boats were more numerous and the transportation rates cheaper. Ulysses with his elegant Mare Nostrum could not compete wit

. "I shall simply ruin my son. If anybody wil

, some unexpected news changed the situation for him. They had just ar

leared the vessel, he shouted in Valenci

t Germany and Austria had begun hostilities with France and Russia, and that England was just intervening in behalf of Be

eforth but a disgraceful memory. They would no longer have to plead for freight from port to port as though begging alms. Now they were on the point of achie

m were taking refuge in the nearest neutral ports, fearing the enemy's cruisers. The greater part were mobilized by their governments for the enormous transportation of

fifty, then to seventy, and a few days later to a hundred.

with cruel joy. "We shall see tonnage at a hundred an

forty-five dollars that he was receiving each month. Ferragut's fortune and that of the ship, he invariably looked upon as his own, consider

s and apple orchards, a little cottage on a peak and many cows. He pictured to himself a vineyard on the coast, a little white dwelling with an arbor un

his agonies upon being examined in Cartagena for his license as a pilot. The grave gentlemen of the tribunal had made him turn pale and stutter like a child before the logarithms and formulas of

ith him, he had no fear that, through carelessness, a wave would sweep across the deck and stop the machinery, or that an invisible ledge would drive its stony point into the vitals of

exposed to the sun appeared washed several shades lighter. His short stiff beard extended over all the furrows and crests of his skin. Furthermore, he had hair in his ears, hair in the nasal passages, coarse and vibrating growths, ready to tr

acquired them in twenty-five years of Mediterranean coast service by reading all the periodicals of lyric radicalism that were thrust upon him on entering the harbors. Furthermore, at the end of every journey was Marseill

progress of the new villages,-enormous wharves constructed within the year, interminable streets tha

uld affirm roundly. "With go

the official employees, the lack of space for a good anchorage would make him smile with

ocks of Hamburg, Captain Ferrag

Toni!… But, nevertheless

e ideas, clothing them with words. In the very background of these grandeurs existed the confirmation of

aven't the words for it … but … it's

s of war, he summed up all his doct

. If all the nations could be republ

t venture to ridicule the sin

. The seamen who in former voyages were taciturn, as though foreseeing the ruin or exhaustion of

ey rejoiced for Ferragut, with the same disinterestedness as the first officer. The engineers were no longer called to the captain's cabin in order to contrive new economies in fuel. They had to take advantage of the time and opportunity; and the Mare Nostrum was now g

re the sailors' quarters and the galley,-the space respected by

o use the old, affectionate form. He had known Ulysses when he used to run away from the classrooms to row in the harbor and, on account of the bad state of his eyes, he had finally retired from the navigation of coast vessels, descending to be a simple barge

pples, and alligator-pears, would greet with enthusiasm the apparition of a great frying pan of rice with cod and potatoes, or a casserole of rice from the oven with its golden crust perforated by the ruddy faces of garbanzos and poin

by distributing rotund, raw onions, with the whiteness of marble and an acrid surprise that brought tears to the eyes. They were a princely gift maintained in secret. One had only to break them with one blow and their sticky juices would gush forth and lose themselves in the palate like crisp mouthfuls of a sweet and spicy bread, alternating with knifefuls of rice. The boa

tain's table the pot in which was boiled the rich sea food mixed with lobsters, mussels, and every kind of shell-fish available, but the chef i

e performing a liturgical ceremony, the chef would go around delivering half a lemon to each one of those seated at the table. The rice should only be eaten after moistening it with this perfume

umor made him affirm that only the gods should be nourished with rice abanda in their abodes on Mount Olympus. He had read that in books. And Caragol, divining great praise in all this, would gravely reply, "That

in his galley, for he suspected that the cabin boys and the young seamen appropriated it to dress their hair when they wanted to play the dandy, using the oil as a pomade. Every head that put itself within reach of his d

hat navigation could not go on because of his having exhausted the leather

both sides of the Mare Nostrum. His nose would sniff the air sadly. "Nothing!…" They were unsavory

iots accustomed to live and eat in all latitudes just as though they were in their own little inland sea. Soon they would begin a speech in the Mediterranean idiom, a mixture of Spanish, Proven?al and Italian, invented by the hybrid peoples of the African coast from Egypt to Morocco. Sometimes they would send each oth

tonous, used to listen to him with deference, because he was the one who doled out the wine and the choicest tid-bits. The old man used to speak to them of the Cristo del Grao, whose pictures occupied the most prominent

agol, barefooted, had carried this sacred ladder on his shoulder on the day of the fiesta. Now other men of the sea were enjoying such honor and he, old and half-

ery many, since he usually strolled about the boat very lightly clad, with the im

uted his entire outfit. The bosom of the shirt was open on all occasions, leaving visible a thatch of white hair. The pantaloons we

aves were sweeping the deck from prow to poop, and the sailors were treading warily, fearing that a heavy sea might carry

el Grao had special charge of them and nothing bad could happen to the ship… Some of the seamen were silent, while others said this and that about

fish, for they inspired him with the same indifference as those cold and unperfumed boats th

in their own way they proclaimed the glory of God. Standing near the taffrail on torrid evenings in the tropics, he would r

water, and at sunrise a swarm of little fishes would come to range themselves opposite the glen, their heads emerging from the water, in order to show the Host which each one of them was carrying in his mouth. In vain the fishermen wished to take them away from them. They fled to the in

ful and foul-mouthed as a prophet of old when he considered his faith in danger. "Who was that son of a flea?… Who was that son of a flea daring to doubt what I myself have seen?…" And what he

hat he called the miracle of the Peixot, endeavoring with the weigh

ladies of his court, and the retinue of mail-clad barons. Twenty days afterward they arrived at Valencia safe and sound like all sailors who in moments of danger ask aid of the Virgen del Puig. Upon inspecting the hull of the galley, the master calkers beheld a monstrous fish detach itself

eyes, and they were good. He had seen it in an ancient picture in the monastery of Puig, everything appearing o

s shirt tail, disclosing his abdomen divided into he

look out!" warne

one who sees beyond the pomps and vanities of exist

the bridge with some glasses of a smoking drink that he used to call calentets. Nothing better for men that had to pass long hours in the inclement weather in motionless vigilance! It was cof

the Nereids only accepted on their altars the fruits of the earth, sacrifices of doves, libations of milk. Perhaps because of this the seafaring men of the Mediterranean, following an hereditary tendency, looked upon

ystery of the galley. On warm days he manufactured refresquets, and these refreshments were enormous glasses, half of water and half of rum upon a

threat. He had to celebrate the prosperity of the vessel in his own way. And of this prosperity the most interesting thing for him was his ability to

re they were unloading wheat and hides. A collision at the entrance of the port, with an English ho

precautions were monopolizing all naval industries. It was not possible to make the repairs sooner, although Ferragut well knew what this loss of time would represent

emnify us…. The E

oothe his impatie

Its true beauty was its immense gulf between hills of orange trees and pines, with a second fram

ts, the palaces, the monumental fountain, had come from the Spanish viceroys. A sovereign of mixed origin, Charles the III, Castilian by birth and Neapolitan at heart, had done t

objects that revealed the intimate life of the ancients, Ulysses thre

om every railing to its opposite were extended lines spread with clothes of different colors, hung out to dry. Neapolitan fertility made these li

down to them from balconies. The bargaining and purchases reached from the depth of the street gutters to the top of the seventh floo

s, green doors, and lower floors further forward than the upper ones, serving as props for galleries with wooden balustrades. Everything there that was not of brick was of clumsy carpentry resembling the work of ship calkers. Iron did not exist in these terrestri

a child, Ferragut had seen them in the Grao of Valencia and continually ran across them in Barcelona, in the suburbs of Marseil

their domes and towers with glazed roofs, green and yellow, which appeared

lence to the harangue of the narrator or charlatan. The old popular comedians were declaiming with heroic gesticulations the epic octavos of Tasso, and harps and violins were sounding accompaniments to the latest melody that Nap

some instances the shafts were occupied by a white ox, sleek with enormous and widely branching horns, an animal similar to those that used to figure in the religious ceremonies of the ancients. At his right would be hooked a horse,

mbert I, he had to defend himself from some noisy youths with low-cut vests, butterfly neckties and little felt hats perc

f the secret cabinets finally irritated him. It appeared to him the reverse of recreation to contemplate so man

mountain of Vesuvius, passing between rose-colored villages s

the tourist trade. Perhaps he would be the only one who would come that day. "Signor, at your service, at any price whatever!…" But the sailor continued

in the port of Naples, he had taken advantage of the cheapness of Sunday rates and had seen everything

n and out of the ruins. Ferragut, in humble admiration, always remained below, glimpsing the country from behind their legs. "Ay! Twenty-two years!…" Afterwards when he heard Pompeii spoken of, it always evoked in his memory several strata of images. "Very beautiful! Very

d city there were to-day no other sounds than the whirring of insect wings over the plants beginning to c

the attitudes of terror in which death had surprised them. He did not abandon his post in order to trouble the captain with his explanations; he scarcely raised his eyes from th

enveloped him,-"A silence of two thousand years," thought Ferragut to himself, and in the midst of this primeval silence sounded far-away voices in the violence of a sharp discussion. They were the guardians and t

lf an inhabitant of ancient Pompeii who had remained alone in the city on a holiday devoted to the rural divinities. His

interstices Spring was forming green grass plots dotted with flowers. Carriages,-of whose owners not even the dust was left,-had with their deep wheels opened

doors showed above, the phallus for conjuring the evil eyes; others, a pair of serpents intertwined, emblem of family life. In the corners of the alleyways, a Latin verse engraved on the wal

e arrival of the final catastrophe. The lower floors were of bricks or concrete and th

rners were visible to the buyer stopping in the street. Many still had their stone counters and their large earthen jars for the sale of wine and oil. The private dwellings had no facades, and their outer walls were smooth and unapproachable, but with an interior court providing

y. All the columns, red or yellow, had capitals of divers colors. The center of the walls was generally occupied with a little picture, usually erotic, p

es with which the most interesting constructions had been designated because of a mosaic or a painting,-Villa of Diomedes, the House of Meleager, of the wounded Adonis, of the Labryint

coming over the arms like a shawl. Ferragut surmised a great difference in the ages of the two. The stout one was moving along with an assumed gravity. Her step was quick, but with a certain authority she planted

d and timorous air of those going to a forbidden place or meditating a bad action. Their first movemen

anxiety as though he were endangering his job by this favor in exchange for a tip. And the two ladies were about to see some tarnished, clumsy paintings showin

se of the tragic poet. Then he admired that of Pansa, the largest and most luxurious in the city. This Pansa had undoubtedly been the most pretentious citizen of Pompeii. His dwel

oking at the flowers across the bars of the door. The younger one was expressing in English her

shed to pay the two foreign ladies some theatrical homage. He felt that necessity of att

ideas of the older one, accustomed to life in disciplined towns that rigidly respect every established prohibition. Her first movement was of flight, so as not to be mixed up in the escapade of this strange

flowers, like all others, grown in a land like other lands, but the frame of the thousand-year-old wall, the propinquity of the alcoves and drinki

soon as she acknowledged the gift, appeared impatient to get away from the stranger. "Thanks!… Thanks!" And she pushed along the

planning to see Salerno, celebrated in the Middle Ages for its physicians and navigators, and then the ruined temples of Paestum. As he

them as travelers will in a small city. They met one another in the harbor, so fatally threatened with bars of moving sand; they saw each other in the gardens b

him. Her companion passed on with a casu

ports with excellent meals and dirty rooms. They had adjoining tables, and after a coldly acknowledged greeting, Ferragut h

other times, perhaps, she might have destroyed the peace of male admirers, but she could now con

though made up of particles of bran. Upon her ancient switch, reddish in tone, were piled artificial curls hiding bald spots and gray hairs. Her green pupils, when freed from their near-sighted glasses, had the tranquil opacity of ox-eyes; but the minut

ned to Ferragut, acknowledging his mute and scrutinizing admiration. She had her hair loosely arranged like a woman who is n

r great, almond-shaped, black eyes appeared like those of an Oriental dancer, and were yet further pro

en fearlessly exposed to the sun and the breath of the sea, and a scarlet triangle emphasized the sweet curve of her bosom, accentuating the low cut of her gown. Upon her sunburned throat a necklace of pearls hung in mo

elegance reminded him of certain dubious ladies who were always traveling alone when he was captain of the transatlantic liners. But these acquaintan

in which accompany a lightning-like and unexpected discovery… He had known that woman:

some mysterious perception, he became absolutely certain that she was doing the same thing at the very same moment. She also had recognized him, and was evidently making great effort to give him a

glasses were always gleaming authoritatively and inimically, coming between the two. Several times the fat lady spoke in a language that reached Ferragut confusedly and which was not

greet them, the hostile dame deigned to return his salutation, looking then at her companion with a questioning expression. The sailor guessed that during

younger one, just as on the preceding morning. She, with the audacity that quickly makes the best of a dubious sit

Span

tle and lose her hostile attitude. And for the first time she smiled upon the captain with her mouth

talking on and on, verifying he

in which those who make the world's circuit may stay. Upon meeting with an old traveling companion, she always recognized his face immediately, no matter how short

aptain?… You

ddenly as her dou

aid positively, "Capt

though she pitied his stupefaction, she made further explanations. She had ma

ago," she added. "

oman's name and place among the innumerable passengers that filled his memory. He thought,

husband and you never looked at me…. All your attentions on

ned in South America, to which her foreign accent contribu

Always the same!… That

well done…. It wa

able to understand a word of the new language employed in the co

h. "The land of knightly gentlem

though she had just made a discovery through the little door of the coach. "Calderon de la Barca!" Ferragut s

wise woman distinguished in

, Ferragut indiscreetly set hims

n?" he said in Spani

ed to guess the question and shot

My friend is a Russi

Polish, too?" co

am It

exclaim, "You little liar!" Then, as he gazed upon the full, black, audacio

gut's country. She could read Castilian in the classic works, but she would not venture to speak it. "Ah, Spain! Country of noble

he Gulf of Salerno, and on the other the red and green mountains dotted with w

ng her fists. "Country of mandolin-twange

edness in which no impressions are durable, considering as of no im

in Naples a short time, perhaps against their will. The younger one was well acquainted with the country, and her

aestum. It was a rather long wait, and the sailor invited them to go into the res

ised on the South American deserts; and again they began to speak of their

like the doctor…. We were a year in Pat

led on horseback through whirlwinds of sand that had shaken her from the saddle; she had suffered the tortures of hunger and thirst when losing the way, and she had passed nights in intemperate weather with no other bed th

es devouring entire meadows with one gulp; and the doctor, like many other sages, had believed in the possibility of finding a surviving

he lakes the guides pointed out to them the hides of devoured herds, and enormous mountains of dried material that appeared to have been deposited b

dly, thinking of something else

is your name?"

t this question, amusin

e. It means the earth, and at the sam

added in Spanish, with a Cre

y widow.' The poor doctor died a

th sides of the way, as now they were crossing over marshy portions of land. On the soft meadows flo

aestum, the ancient P

Greeks of Sybaris six

mans the Gulf of Paestum. And this city with mountains like those of Athens had suddenly become

of the ancient temples had had to escape from the Saracen invasions, founding in the neighboring mountains a new country-the humble town of Capaccio Vecchio. Then the Norman kings,

noon before, where Hildebrand, the most tenacious and ambitious of the popes, was buried. Its columns, its sarcophagi, its bas-reliefs had come

mployee looked curiously at this group arriving a

nds just as in midsummer, but she was still able to resist it. Later, during the summer, the guards of the ruins and the workmen in the e

upt air, the poisonous sting of the mosquito, and the solar fire that was sucking from the mud the vapors of death. Every two years this humble stopping place through which pas

and continued along a road bordered on one side by marshy lands of exuberant vegetation and on the other by the long mud wall of a grange, through whose mortar were sticking out fragm

med in a sea of verdure. The doctor, guide-book in hand, was pointing them out with masterly autho

ic style. That of Neptune had well preserved its lofty and massive columns,-as close together as the trees of a nursery,-enormous trunks of stone that still sustained the high entablature, the jutti

of the stone, giving it a superficial smoothness like marble,-the vivid colors of its flutings and walls making the antique city a mass of polychrome monument

four rows of columns, was the real sanctuary, the cella. Their footsteps on the tiled flags, separa

n all directions. In their flight they scurried blindly over the feet of the visitors. The doctor raise

slowly and solemnly uncoiling his circles upon the stones. The sailor raised his cane, but before he could strike he felt his

in!… Leave

position a long time, but Freya freed herself in order to advance toward the reptile, coaxing it and holding out her hands to it as though she were trying to caress a domestic animal. The black ta

y of the dead temple that had changed its form in order to live among the ruins. This serpent must be twenty centuries old. If it had not been f

lation made her recall the roses of Paestum of which the poets of ancient Rome had sung. She even recited some Latin verses, translating them to her hearers so as to make them understand that the rose bushes of this land used to bloom twice a year. Freya smoothed out her brow and

just in order to satisfy the whim of tourists, he would bring rose bushes from Capaccio Vecchio and other mountain villages,-rose bushes just like ot

emed to be the most suitable one to receive his confidence

ed with re

, in one blow, our eternal enmity with the Goth. My so

then said in a low voice to her compani

oad flanked with tombs. By the Porta di Mare they climbed to the walls, ramparts of great limestone blocks, extending a distance of five kilometers. The sea, which from the lowlan

e guide's remark and consulting the pages of her guide book. Behind

was enough for him to see the widow's smile, her passionate eyes, and the little tricks of malicious coquetry with which she responded to his gallant advances. "Forward, sea-wolf!"… He took her hand while she was speaking of the beauty of the solitary se

lsed and saw Freya freed from his arms, two steps away, looki

aptain!… It is useless with m

ade the sailor understand the enormity of his mistake. In vain he tried to keep b

order to beguile the time while waiting for the train, Freya took from her handbag a gold cigarette-case and the li

animation with which the two ladies were speaking in a new language. Recollections of Hamburg and Bremen came surging up in his memory. His c

dialogue, he asked Freya h

rhaps, knows twenty. She knows the languages

looking at him, as though she had lost forever that

he doctor grew less and less approachable as the cars rolled towards Salerno. It was the chilliness that appears amon

oo, were going to remain in Salerno in order to take a carriage-trip along the gulf. They were going to Amalfi and would pass the night on the Alpine peak of Ravello, a medieval city whe

he was afraid of the doctor. Furthermore, their trip was to be in a veh

mise his sadness and

o more than three days

pl

s careful not to mention their stopping-place. F

each other again," she said laconically.

it, mentioning the hotel on the sho

r was lost behind a screen of glass, talking with the coachman who had come to meet them. Freya, before disappearing, turned to give him

races and perfumes of the absent one, Ulysses felt as downcast as though he we

cause they were not hastening repairs on the vessel. In the same breath he said it would be better not to hurry things too much, so that the job would be

g better than wine. That which brings greater ecstasy than

down in his heart he was pitying the ignorance of those men who concentrate

rn shored up so that the screw of the steamer might be repaired. The workmen were replacing the damaged and broken plates with ceaseless hammering. Since they would undoubtedly have to wait nearl

nto coppers, preparatory to asking various questions. The jaundiced and mustached steward listened to him attentively with the complacency of a go-between, and at last was able to for

its at a sure place, gazing at the gulf from the balcony. Below h

e fortress for the purpose of aiming bombards and culverins at the Neapolitans when they no longer wished to pay taxes and imposts. Its walls had been raised upon the ruins of another castle in which Frederick II had guarded his treasures, and whose chape

ross the double mountain of the island of Capri, black in the distance, closing the gulf like a promontory, and the coast of Sorrento as rectilinear as a wall. "There she is….

ot the slightest zephyr was rippling its surface. The smoke plume of Vesuvius was upright and slender, expanding upon the horizon like a pine tree of white vapor. At

ng the cone of the volcano; the sea appeared to be made of tin, and a chilly wind was distending sails, skirts, and overcoats, making the people scurry along the promenade and the shore. The musicians continued

her room on the floor below, Ulysses thrilled with restlessnes

the walls and roofs tremble, swelling out into the immensity of the gulf. That was the midday cannonade from the high castle of S. Elmo. Then cornets from the Castello dell'

sts who had preceded him. Freya perhaps was going to come in with the delay of

ishes, and sea gulls, and every time its polychromatic leaves parted, his food seemed to stick in

…. The signora had not lunched in the hotel; the signora had gone out whi

a was going to appear every time that an unknown hand or a vague silhouet

t the porter, an astute brunette whose blue lapels embroidered with keys of gold were peeping over the edge

eldom ate at the hotel. She had some friends who were occupying a furnished flat in the district of Chiaja, with whom she usually passed almost the ent

spaper, had to go to the door in order to avoid the morning cleaning, pursued by the dust of brooms and shaken rugs. And once there, he pretended to take great i

very familiar and confidential, as though since the preceding night a

around his lips. But the sailor repelled all such amiability, glowering with displeasure. This vulgar fellow was going to spoil with his presence the longed-for meeting. Perhaps he was hanging around just to see and to know…. And taking ad

the peddlers, the distant roll of the sea was echoing like a haunting memory. One by one he looked at all the motor launches, the little regatta skiffs, the fishing barks, and the coast schooners anchored i

a street-opening, hesitating whether to continue on or to flee toward the interior of Naples. Then she came over to the seaside

nd she asked him calmly what he was doing there looking at the wav

d Ulysses, rather irritated by this tranquillity. "

iles with an expressi

here. You are in your district, within

self with the captain's astonishment,

y, on my return to the hotel. I always look them

you did not come down

ld respond negatively. She could not answer it

were waiting to meet me and I did not wish to go into the dining

azement…. No woman had ever sp

of you men. 'Since he did not find me in the hotel, he will wait for me to-day in the street,' I said to myse

er in surprise and d

ou saw me…. But these false situations stretching along indefinitely are distasteful to me. I

orter was standing at the entrance looking out over the

ys. We shall talk together and then you can leave me…

along the beach of Chiaja, losing sight of the hotel. Ferragut wished to renew the conversat

She was no longer clad in the dark tailor-made in which he had first seen her. She was wearing a blue and white

ck emeralds, and on her fingers a half dozen diamonds whose facets twinkled in the sunlight. The pearl necklace was still on her neck peeping out through the V-shaped opening of her gown. It was the magnificent toilet of a rich a

n the unsuitableness of all this luxury. Ev

ing always the same thing in different words. His thoughts were incoherent, but they were a

the corners of her mouth. It pleased her pride as a woman to contemplate this strong man stutt

p-you do not eat-you do not live because of me. Your existence is impossible if I do not love you. A little more conversation and you will threaten me with shoot

be seen on one side, and on the other the handsome edifices of the beach of Chiaja. Some ragged urchins kept running

l yourself if the fancy strikes you; but I am not able to love you; I shall never love you. You may give

smile with which she a

rmised a ve

en though I make the greatest sacrifices?… Even though I

eplied roundly, with

ts dome supported by white columns and a railing around it. The bust of

et into a powerful magician. The wizard Virgil in one night had constructed the Castello dell' Ovo, placing it with his own hands upon a great egg (Ovo) that was floating in the sea. He also had opened with his magic blasts the tunnel of Posilipo near which are a vineyard an

part of Chiaja…. But before separating as good friends, you are going to give me your word not

usion was added the sting of wounded pride. He who had imagined such ver

tied his

affairs, and of your family waiting for you over there in Spa

ne!… The only one!…" And he said it with a conviction

ity was beginnin

ps a woman who is idiot enough to admit that she remembers meeting you at other times, and you say to yourself, Magnificent occasion to while away agreeably a tedious period of waiting!…' If I should

r be repaired. He was computing with agony the days that remained. If

each other here in Italy. Next time, if we ever meet again, it will be in Japan or Canada or the Cape…. Go on your way, you enamored old shark, and let me go mine. Imagine to yourself that we are two

a thing could not be, he could not resi

cording to your caprices. 'Because I desire thee, thou must be mine….' And what if I don't want to?… And if I don't feel

oof, abstaining from the passions that waste life, without anybody's coming to importune them in their retreat. They were at li

and the melancholy of certain recollections…. And nevertheless, I am going to end by hating you. Do you hear me, you tedious old Argonaut?… I shall loathe you because you will not be a mere f

ith a gesture of scor

ins

tive woman but they believe that they are evading their obligations if they do not beg for her love and what comes af

loved her and, after being repelled with such cruelty, h

her eyes took on a dangerous gleam. She looked at her compa

I would like to be immensely beautiful, the handsomest woman on earth, and to possess the intellect of all the sages concentrated in my brain, to be rich and to be a queen, in order that all the men of the

the garden with the so

sneer distor

all, outright and simple-hearted. I believe you capable of assuring a woman of all kinds of love

of the Aquarium, glistening whit

he sea that can cut with their claws, that have arms like scissors, saws,

m which were hanging several silver threads

h what satisfaction would I crunch them between my claws! How I would fasten my mouth against their hearts!… And I wo

r if he had fallen in

rprise and questioning

's se

wakening from a nightmare and wishing to banish reme

so already. We shall be friends, just friends and nothing more. It is useless to think of anythi

nless, seeing her hurry rapidly away, as though fleeing from the wo